Cameron Joseph

Cameron Joseph is Talking Points Memo's senior political correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He covers Capitol Hill, the White House and the permanent campaign. Previous publications include the New York Daily News, Mashable, The Hill and National Journal. He grew up near Chicago and is an irrationally passionate Cubs fan.

When Attorney General William Barr released his summary of Robert Mueller’s report on Sunday, Republicans and some journalists immediately started arguing it would prove a major setback to the 2020 Democratic field, who they painted as being obsessed with the Mueller investigation.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) announced he won’t seek reelection on Monday, opening up a seat in the Democratic-leaning state and thinning a bipartisan political dynasty that stretches back more than a century.

President Trump declared that the United States should recognize Israel’s sovereignty of the disputed territory in the Golan Heights, breaking with a half-century of U.S. policy over the region.

Israel took the territory from Syria in a 1967 Six Day War. Ever since then, the international community — including the U.S. — has held that the territory is Syrian by right and under Israeli occupation.

Trump made the momentous announcement via Twitter, his latest huge move towards backing Israeli’s right-wing government at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is facing a corruption scandal and his toughest election in years. And it amounts to a huge win for right-wing advocates of Israel — one that could alienate other regional allies.

After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!

The move is the latest sudden shift in U.S. policy towards Israel from Trump — shifts that seem aimed at pleasing his own base and shoring up Netanyahu. The Trump administration already moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move cheered by pro-Israel hardliners and the Israeli government that triggered international protests, as much of the Arab world views Jerusalem as a contested city.

Netanyahu, who has a scheduled trip to visit Trump and the U.S. in the coming days, cheered the news:

At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you President Trump! @realDonaldTrump

The move comes just a week after the State Department changed references in its annual human rights report from being “Israeli-occupied” to “Israeli-controlled territory,” a move that signaled the change. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other U.S. officials had denied in recent days that a change in official U.S. policy was in the offing. It’s unclear whether Trump’s policy shift went through official U.S. government channels, or was simply a one-off move from the unpredictable president.

The Golan is a key strategic region that Israel views as crucial to its security. The country basically annexed it in 1981, and Israeli settlers have occupied broad swaths of the area for decades. But it’s long been considered an area that would be part of any eventual peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors.

Hopes for a broad agreement between Israel and its neighbors for a permanent peace have slipped further away in the past two decades, however. And Trump’s approach to the region — bear-hugging Netanyahu without considering other allies’ concerns — risks weakening America’s ability to work with other nations in the Middle East that are key to regional stability.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced he’s reversed course and will vote against a resolution disapproving of President Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border, just weeks after penning an op-ed promising to buck Trump on the bill.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) quickly racked up endorsements from a number of younger lawmakers on Thursday — a group that hints at the generational and ideological divides that will likely fuel the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.